YODA PRESS

BARSA by Kadeeja Mumtas, translated by K M Sherrif

They called her ‘Barsa’ in Arabic. Barsa—the one who does not veil her face, the one who does not bow her head, the one who asks questions.

Sabitha and Rasheed, a young couple and doctors both, leave their homeland in Kerala to work in the holy city of Mecca. The story spans the six years they spend in Mecca. Not a Muslim by birth, Sabitha had converted to Islam for marriage. In her time in Mecca, she observes, experiences and questions the restrictions to which women around her are subjected, even as she faces challengers of her own and finally understands that religion is experiences and lived differently in different parts of the world. A powerful comment on religion, gender, patriarchy and spirituality, and how the experience of religion can be different for men and women, this is the first-ever English translation of a celebrated novel in the original Malayalam by a valiant Muslim female voice.